USA - Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are continuing their energetic performances and monumental live sets decades after their inception. On their current tour, which began in 2023, fans are enjoying the music of an extended 19-member E Street Band through a Cohesion PA system, provided by Clair Global.
Led by tour director George Travis and production manager Sean Magovern, the touring audio team is a close-knit affair, and the synergy and respect seen on-stage – thanks to the professionalism of Springsteen – is reflected in this crew.
The tour’s three-hour set list has been hand-picked from an extensive music catalogue, built around their 2020 album (and Springsteen’s 20th studio album), Letter to You. The creative process to put this production together is revealed in Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, a Disney+ documentary which was released in October.
"There's a sense with his show that you are part of something special," says FOH engineer John Cooper, affectionately known as 'Coop'. "My goal has always been to give him the freedom to come in and not be concerned with sound check but to have the confidence to work on his music and be creative."
Cooper mixes on an Avid S6L with a Waves server and employs minimal outboard; "I have some Oxford plug-ins and a Rupert Neve 5045 Primary Source Enhancer for Bruce's vocal. The key to it all is knowing your artist and knowing their music."
This intricate knowledge came into play when choosing a PA system. "I had the opportunity to hear the Cohesion system very early on, and I was impressed. I immediately started to plan to get it on the road with us. At this point, we have put Cohesion in lots of different environments and frankly, it's like sitting in a control room. The detail put forward is just remarkable and it makes my day comfortable, but it's not all down to hardware; it’s in the very skilled hands of our systems engineer Brandon Schuette and the rest of Clair's amazing sound crew, that I have the privilege of touring with."
The Cohesion system, as per Cooper’s request, comprises large-format CO12 loudspeakers for main and side hangs, CO10s for delays and the centre hang, and side-fill deployments of CO8s and CP218 II+ subwoofers.
Aiding Cooper's mix for one of the world's best-known performers is a thorough task, helped by PA techs Telvin Armour, Abi Chilton and Bobby Taylor.
With generations of fans still filling stadiums after decades of loyal support, Brandon continues: "The main objective is to provide the most consistent coverage possible. I want every seat to sound like they're sitting at FOH next to Coop. That usually starts by balancing the energy in the room, so that whatever SPL we have at FOH is going to be the same SPL in any given seat."
Brandon also comments on the back-end service this tour receives from Clair Global: "With the amount of support we get from the shop, I can't imagine an easier scenario to tour in. Whether it's from Lititz or Aesch, we have been set up for success every time we go out. Between the great people that support us in the shop and the great people I get to work with on the road, I am absolutely spoiled."
When it comes to monitor world for Springsteen and The E Street Band, the setup is somewhat unusual; an impressive three monitor engineers juggle mixes for 19 musicians in this extended band format.
Monty Carlo's main priority is Bruce, Stevie Van Zandt (MD), Roy Bittan (pianos, synth) and the five-piece horn section; Matt Fitzgerald's primary focus is guitarist Patti Scialfa, four background singers and percussionist Anthony Almonte; Troy Milner takes care of drummer Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent on bass guitar, Nils Lofgren on guitar, Soozie Tyrell’s violin mix, and Charlie Giordano (keys).
The trio mixes on DiGiCo Quantum SD7 consoles and the band listens to a mixture of JH and 64 Audio in-ear monitors on Wisycom transmitters. There’s more Cohesion for personal monitoring too, with a healthy deployment of CM22 and CM14 wedges for on-stage monitor clarity.
Fitzgerald begins: "For this show, the Quantum SD7 really is one of the few desks out there that can handle the sheer number of inputs and outputs we have. We're looking after 160 inputs from the deck, with no playback, time code or syncing to anything, split five ways to each of our mixing consoles. It’s just a very large, very raw, unscripted rock band up there! Because I'm mixing for so many vocalists who are listening to in-ear monitors, I utilise individual PSEs, reverbs, slaps and panning for each vocalist to create an image, space and clarity to their mixes on such a loud stage."
RF coordinator Brad Galvin is Carlo's second pair of ears: "During the show I stand next to Monty at the SL monitor position, and when he's looking at Bruce, I keep my eyes moving between Roy, Steven and the horn section. As soon as I see him moving to another mix (or hear it change) my eyes go directly to Bruce, so someone always has their eyes on him."
Using IAS software Galvin coordinates 88 frequencies per day between 32 channels of Wisycom MTK982 dual transmitters, 54 channels of Shure Axient Digital, and a couple of frequencies for the FOH Lectrosonics TM400 measurement mics.
"Since we came to Clair Global, it's been a life-changing event. The support we get from [account executive] Greg Hall and the operations people has just been phenomenal, and the touring crews have been stellar.”
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band – and their dedicated crew – will head to Europe next for their Spring/Summer 2025 concerts.
